The guy stood 4'1" and had all sorts of deformities. For those not familiar with Thalidomide, it was a drug some pregnant women took decades ago to help them get through their pregnancies, but ended up causing birth defects.

The guy claimed Thalidomide was created by Hitler in order to create the perfect race and in doing so part of the side effects were oversized genitals - hmmmm.

Because Thalidomide was designed to create a species of perfect people, Paul commented the only positive that came from his mother having used the drug was it gave him a 12-inch penis!! 12 and a quarter to be exact...
:shocked: WTF!!

The comic also said his mother took only seven Thalidomide pills when she was pregnant with him, which he thought was one of the reasons hes lived as long as he has - thus reaching puberty and his supposedly enormous schlong.

Obviously Stern being Stern, he challenged to guy to prove his wasn't blowing smoke out of his deformed little sphincter, but the guy refused to reveal his protuberant and prolific pecker in fear of losing of his day job. Well, the guy was far from funny, so Stern quickly dismissed him and sent him on his jolly way...

First I had ever heard of Thalidomide being created by the Nazis with the side effect of mammoth manhoods!

Anyone else ever heard of this too?

Interesting urban legend created by the comic or some truth to what he had to say??

Good for him for asking for proof, but maybe Howard Stern should stick to interviewing the guy who bottomed for Clay Aiken.

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...I think that the act of asking for proof is actually just indicative of the fact that Stern's ability to pick up on social satire and in-your-face irony displayed by minorities ain't all that it might be.

Gold Member

Indeed, but not as well known is the efficacy of the drug (and some analogues) in inhibiting some kinds of Cancer, is almost 100% effective in treating ENL (a complication of Leprosy), and can boost immune response in HIV/AIDS patients, especially those with TB.

What misled people in the 1950's and 60's was the apprarent lack of toxicity in animal tests. It was declared safe (even for pregnant women) without proper evidence and the consequences of that are well known.

Some years ago a thalidomide victim spoke at a local service club. He is armless, a former prosecuting attorney in a nearby county, Played high school football as a place kicker, and is self sufficient in many ways. I expected that someone would help him eat---no way! He slipped off his loafers and his feet came up above the table. He picked up his knife and fork with his toes and went about eating like he had both arms and hands. He said that his parents didn't "baby" him but taught him to use his feet in place of hands. I'll never forget the dexterity of those feet when he used them to eat

It is possible that any chemical that alters the hormonal balance of the developing foetus in utero could affect adult penis size. It appears that there is a certain period of time during gestation when hormones activate genes, morph tissue and then save the changes to the developing child. More likely culprits for BIG wangs than thalidomide are pituitary tumors and hydroxylase deficiencies; diseases that alter the Hypothalmic - Pituitary Axis.

"The effect of prenatal androgens on genital development is an example of
an *organizing effect* of a hormone, which means a hormonal effect on
physical structure. Prenatal androgens also have an organizing effect on
brain development. At *birth*, there are distinct *differences in brain
structure between males and females*. For ex., the *medial preoptic
nucleus* of the hypothalamus is 3 times larger in males than in females
- which is not surprising since it controls male sexual behaviour
(another nucleus nearby is called the *sexually dimorphic nucleus
*because it is also much larger in males). Also, in females, the left
*cerebral cortex* is thicker than the right, while in males, the right
cerebral cortex is thicker than the left. A third structural difference
is that the *anterior commissure* is larger in females than in males.
The anterior commissure is a small tract between the 2 hemispheres in
the frontal part of the brain; it is much smaller than the *corpus
callosum*, which is the main tract connecting the 2 hemispheres. Recent
evidence indicates that the corpus callosum itself is also
proportionally larger in females.

"Studies have shown that these and other differences between the brains
of men and women largely depend on exposure to *prenatal androgens*
during a critical period of fetal development. This critical period is
during the 3rd and 4th months of pregnancy. If a fetus (even a genetic
female) is exposed to high levels of androgens during this critical
period, the result will be *masculinization of the brain.* The degree of
masculinization depends on the level and timing of androgen exposure.

"In some cases, female fetuses were exposed to androgens. This has
happened in several ways. The adrenal gland produces small amounts of
androgens in both males and females, so if the pregnant woman has a
hyperactive adrenal gland (called *congenital adrenal hyperplasia*) it
could produce enough androgen to masculinize the female fetus. Also, in
the 1950s and 1960s, a number of pregnant women took the synthetic
estrogen *DES* to prevent miscarriage. Though an estrogen, high levels
of DES have a masculinizing effect on fetal development (ie, it acts
like testosterone in this respect). When a female fetus is exposed to
high levels of androgens or androgen-like chemicals from an early stage
of development, the result at birth will usually be an *intersex*, which
means that the genitals are intermediate in structure between male and
female (in contrast note that a true hermaphrodite has both ovaries and
testes, which is a very rare genetic condition). In many intersex cases
the doctors cant tell whether the infant is a boy or a girl! This
happens in about 1/2000 births. The interesting thing that can happen
from a psychological point of view is that in some cases of prenatal
androgen exposure in female fetuses, the brain was masculinized but the
genitals were not. This can occur because the critical period for
masculinization of the brain is slightly later than the critical period
for masculinization of the genitals. So if the androgen exposure occurs
after the genitals have already developed as a female, the brain can
still be masculinized. These cases shed light on the role of prenatal
hormones on brain development and gender identity.

"*Females exposed to prenatal androgens* showed some interesting
behavioral differences from normal little girls. As children, they were
more aggressive than normal girls of their age. They enjoyed more sports
and rough and tumble play compared to normal girls, and were more
physically active in general. They were usually regarded as tomboys.
They also preferred to play with boys toys, such as toy soldiers and
trucks, instead of girls toys like dolls and houses. And as adults,
these women showed a much higher rate of lesbianism than normal women:
nearly a quarter of them became lesbians versus only a 1-2% rate of
lesbianism in the general female population. So the effect of prenatal
androgens on brain development seems to predispose people to physical
aggressiveness, male sexual behavior, and a generally high activity level.

"In *rats,* exposure to prenatal androgens will make a female rat behave
just like a male. As an adult, she will fight with males and mount other
females. Studies have also shown that if a pregnant rat is subjected to
*extreme stress* during pregnancy, this causes release of stress
hormones into the blood which can *block the effects of testosterone* in
the developing male rats brain. The result is that the male rat is
physically a normal male, but exhibits homosexual behavior as an adult.
He is attracted to other males, and assumes the female position in the
presence of other male rats.

Some years ago a thalidomide victim spoke at a local service club. He is armless, a former prosecuting attorney in a nearby county, Played high school football as a place kicker, and is self sufficient in many ways. I expected that someone would help him eat---no way! He slipped off his loafers and his feet came up above the table. He picked up his knife and fork with his toes and went about eating like he had both arms and hands. He said that his parents didn't "baby" him but taught him to use his feet in place of hands. I'll never forget the dexterity of those feet when he used them to eat

:smile: :biggrin1: :smile:

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My sister went through the same thing. She was born with out arm (had small almost flipper-like appendages) They tried to get her to use prosthetic arms, but she preferred to use her feet, so they had the useless "arms" removed. She drives, dresses herself, eats, types, writes, etc... all with her feet. Until I got older, I thought this was normal and learned to use my feet and hands both, My sister is amazing!

My sister went through the same thing. She was born with out arm (had small almost flipper-like appendages) They tried to get her to use prosthetic arms, but she preferred to use her feet, so they had the useless "arms" removed. She drives, dresses herself, eats, types, writes, etc... all with her feet. Until I got older, I thought this was normal and learned to use my feet and hands both, My sister is amazing!

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Thalidomide was popular in the early 1960s causing short-arm syndrome .I think some sufferers also had eye problems ?No men!ion of bigger genitalia though .Interestingly enough, the children of the original thalomide victims(now in their 40s) were "normal" but there have bben abnormalities in the grandchildren . There was a rent boy in Piccadilly who had no arms but a thriving business.Thaslidomide is now used for Leprosy in Brazil (with tragic results in pregnant ladies)...